There are some great upcoming events this year for 928 fans. The expected timetable currently looks like this. More information is available on the List, plus there will be specific articles on each event before hand to remind everyone.

The Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire on Saturday 11th April

Last call for our first event of 2015, we hope we are tempting you to get the car on the road and clear the exhaust pipes, with a blast up, or down, the M40. It’s not very far from Stratford upon Avon, if you want to make a weekend of it too.

It was Ken Coad, from the 968 Register who had the idea, and whilst some of us last came here with our 928’s in 1997 (page 118 in the register handbook) we know that many changes and additions have been made since. A reduced admission cost per person of £8 applies by arriving in your Porsche (membership card if not in it) and the car goes free. Look for the Porsche reserved parking in front of the main building.

The museum is reputed to have the largest collection of British cars under one roof, a total approaching 300 cars. Whilst these buildings were built from scratch, when first opened in 1993, the idea came from the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) that became Leyland Historic Vehicles that became Rover Group back in 1986. It was they who decided that a purpose built centre was required to house their many and varied collection of cars. Whilst Austin and Morris plus MG and Mini, were at that time the backbone of the stock, many more British cars have since been added such as Morgan, Jaguar, Ford and Vauxhall and Land Rover. And you will find a few foreigners too!

The Centre is to be found just off junction 12 of the M40 south east from Stratford upon Avon and is clearly signed, or if you prefer use postcode CV350BJ for your satnav or Google www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk and download their map.

It’s not necessary to reserve a place but it’s always good for us to know likely numbers in advance, so please email myself with your intention to attend. We are meeting informally from 10.30am onwards in the car park.

This article first appeared in 911 & Porsche World. I would like to thank the author Adam Towler and 911 & Porsche World for allowing us permission to reproduce it here on www.928.org.uk. Please follow @911PorscheWorld on Twitter. Please follow @AdamTowler on Twitter. Note that this article is not to be copied to other sites without the permission of the original author and the editor of 911 & Porsche World. We asked Adam if we could reproduce it here because it has the best modern written analysis of all the available models from a UK perspective. Have a read. It will make you want a 928 and might help you determine which kind - Angus

Introduction

The 928 is a true enigma. It seems impossible for a journalist to write a story about the 928 without citing the car’s failure to replace the 911, or the perception that buying one as a classic car is a potential minefield. But this is the very same car that was deemed the future back in 1977, and with good reason. This is the car – the only sports car – to win a Car of the Year gong. Ok, say what you like about this motoring equivalent of the European song contest, but for a sports car to win outright – that’s something quite profound. It is a car that always tried to be many things on four wheels, but as the years passed, was tasked with becoming a quite different sort of vehicle: an aggressive sports GT rather than an all-round everyday supercar.

The 928 project is thought to have begun in 1971, with the 911 already seven years old and great uncertainty over what the decade ahead would hold for the motor car. Significant pressure from lobbyists in America was threatening to make life next to impossible for sports cars – particularly rear-engined, air-cooled sports cars – and this threat was soon joined by the first fuel crisis. At Porsche there had been great changes, with the family withdrawing from the day-to-day running of the company, and Ernst Fuhrmann taking overall charge.

Influenced by the conditions around him, and guided by his crystal ball, he dreamed a new range of front-engined, water-cooled cars, headed by a formidable sports car that could equally play the role of a cross-continent GT.

Porsche knew the 911s limitations of the latter and were fed up with watching Mercedes and BMW mine a niche of wealthy customers who wanted to journey at speed in comfort. But Fuhrmann also wanted this new super-Porsche to set new standards in everything from accident protection to corrosion resistance. It was to be all things to all men: a 2+2 capable of 150mph, useable everyday, but with the handling and performance to shame most exotica.

What appeared at the 1977 Geneva motor show was a futuristic and unusual looking big coupe, powered by a 4,474cc single overhead cam-per-bank V8 featuring Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. Drive from the V8 was taken via a torque tube to a transaxle with the gearbox mounted ahead of the differential: either a five-speed dogleg manual, or a three-speed automatic sourced, ironically, from Mercedes-Benz. Weight distribution was claimed to be 51/49% front to rear.

The distinctive body design, by Wolfgang Mobius under the direction of Anatole Lapine, featuring ‘pop-up’ headlamps that remained uncovered even when laid flat, with doors, bonnet and front wings made from aluminium. Incredibly for the time, it had no obvious bumpers, these being hidden underneath plastic aprons styled to fit the car, and that could return to their shape following a minor impact. Today, we take such things for granted.

The suspension was sophisticated too: the front arrangement was a double wishbone and anti-roll bar affair, but at the rear Porsche broke new ground again and introduced the Weissach axle, a development of the semi-trailing arm setup, it countered unwanted toe changes during cornering, thereby reducing oversteer.

Writer Pablo DeFerrari has written a very interesting article about the 928 and how it essentially didn't live long enough. The discussion about weather the 928 should be a 2+2 or full 4 seater, left the car being too similiar to the 911 when Porsche chose the 2+2 option. Pablo argues that the real problem was that Porsche couldn't find enough of the right customer - the Sybarite's (seekers of pleasure and luxury). I highly recommend you click on the pic to read on: